


You Never Know Until You Try

by peacefulmist



Category: NU'EST
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Set Up, dating app, may turn explicit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 11:30:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13703565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peacefulmist/pseuds/peacefulmist
Summary: Minki convinces Dongho to sign up to a dating app.Dongho actually finds someone he's interested in.They meet.





	You Never Know Until You Try

"Why am I doing this again?" asked Dongho irritably.

"Because if you don’t, you'll never go on a date again. You'll never get laid again. You'll never find a life partner. You'll die lonely. You don't want to die lonely. It's sad and cold. And boring. And people end up pitying you. Yet you're dead. So instead of remembering your death, they'll just be focused on how you lived a lonely life."

"And how would you know? When was the last time you died a lonely death?" retorted Dongho.

Minki rolled his eyes. "That's beside the point. And please don't think that I'd be the one to scatter your ashes because you have no other family. Or friends, for that matter."

"Minki, I'm happy as I am now. I don't need a life partner or whatever you call it. I can survive by myself. And I've got good friends. You. Actually, that’s debatable.” Minki thumped him. “And there’s Jonghyun. And Aron hyung. And... my younger brother."

Minki rolled his eyes once again. "Soon you'll be including Seonho and Lee Woojin on your pitiful short list of friends. Look, just have a go to humour me. I, as your best friend, want you to be happy. I want you to experience love. And marriage. And kids if you want them."

"Minki, you're probably the last person who should be talking to me about love and marriage. Look at the way you and Jonghyun dance around your so-called relations- OW!"

Dongho flinched as Minki pinched him hard.

"This isn't about me! This is about you. And if you don't listen to me now, I will be very angry. You will no longer be my best friend. I will actually consider choosing Seonho as your replacement. You have been warned."

Dongho sighed. "But this is so... early 2000s. A dating app? Seriously?"

"And what would you know about the early 2000s? You were only 5 years old at the turn of the millennium! Just do it. I've already downloaded the app for you anyway. And signed you up. And created your profile. All you need to browse through the profiles and click on the ones you like. Simple!"

Dongho groaned dramatically. He knew it was a bad idea to tell Minki his phone passcode. Not that he told him. Minki already knew as Dongho used the same 4 digit passcode for everything. 0809. The last four digits of his phone number.

Reluctantly he clicked to open the brightly coloured app and looked at what damage Minki wrote on his profile.

"What... what the. What is this?! Height, 183cm. Since when was 178cm the new 183?? And this... languages, Korean, English and Chinese. English? Chinese?"

Minki pressed his delicate fingers to his temples in a feigned headache. "Dongho, since when were you 178cm anyway? I seemed to remember the number 176 when we went for the health check last year. And adding 7cm is nothing. Celebrities do that on their official profiles. As for the languages... this is a Korean dating app. For people living in Korea. No one who uses it will start talking to you in English and Chinese anyway. It's just to make you look smart. Which you clearly aren't." The last sentence was muttered under Minki's breath, though Dongho heard it anyway but chose to ignore that dig.

"Hobbies: romantic strolls around the park, weightlifting, and reading. I'm not even going to ask you about strolling around the park. And the weightlifting... I suppose you count lifting your dead weight home when you're drunk off your face ‘weightlifting’?" Dongho had the foresight to dodge another punch from Minki. "But reading?! You know fully well how I used to hide under the table to avoid having to read! What if any potential dates see this and expect to talk literature with me? I’ll end up gaping gormlessly at them like a fish."

"You already gape gormlessly at us like a fish whenever we try to have an intellectual conversation anyway, so what's new? Just stop fussing over the smallest detail. I couldn't write "playing video games, decorating yoghurt and annoying my one and only friend" as your hobbies, could I? Everyone lies on these apps. It's the norm. Plus we're only browsing for the potential eye candy, not to dissect everyone's profile!"

"So shallow Choi Minki. Liking someone for their looks. And why do you want eye candy anyway. Isn't Jonghyun enough eye can- OWW, stop hitting me!"

"Then stop spouting crap! And concentrate on these profiles! Or shall I just choose someone for you?"

Dongho tugged his phone to safety. Knowing Minki he'd choose someone wholly unsuitable for Dongho just for a laugh.

"Which photo did you use for my profile?"

"You've only got one photo where you look somewhat normal. The one from Seungcheol's birthday party."

Dongho harrumphed at Minki's childish dig. He didn’t really like taking photos but feared looking awkward so always scrunched up his face in an attempt to look funny. Minki secretly found it cute, but would never voice it out loud of course.

The app had a function that could browse nearby users within a certain radius. Dongho chose the 10 mile radius as he wouldn't really want to travel too far if he ever had to meet up with someone (not that he would ever do that). Together with Minki he began to look through the options.

"Hmm... Joo Kyulkyung... she looks pretty. And look, her hobbies are singing! And she plays the pipa. She's musical like you! Put her on your "Potentials" list!" 

"No... wait. No. It says here that she's a Chinese exchange student. She's Chinese, Minki. Meaning she probably knows how to speak Chinese. Meaning she'll notice that I actually can't."

"Stop being such a goodie two shoes. If you ever meet her and she asks about it, just say that you wrote it in error."

"In error of what exactly?"

Minki closed his eyes and silently counted to ten. Dongho was so argumentative when he was grumpy.

"Okay I don't have time for this. You have a look for your potential candidates. I'm off out. I'm already late." Minki picked up his jacket.

"You're meeting Jonghyun? Can't I come along?" Dongho whined. It was a Saturday and their group of friends normally hung out together. He didn't want to stay in his room trawling through this stupid dating app.

"Yes, I'm meeting him and no, you can't. You're the one who said, and I quote, that we're "dancing around our relationship". Well tonight, I'm going to talk to him. Something you probably would rather not sit through."

Dongho shuddered. He really didn't want to witness one of the infamous awkward Jonghyun and Minki chats. Their conversations either got way too serious or way too weird. Never mind, he can always meet up with Ar-

"And don't think about meeting Aron hyung either. He's got an eye infection." Minki opened the front door to their shared apartment. "Just look through the app okay? I'm expecting a full report tomorrow. Or else you're doing the house chores for the next three months." And with that he flounced out.

Dongho let out a huge groan and looked down at his phone in his hand. Well, it can’t hurt to just flick through. He could just add some random profiles on his “potentials” list to appease Minki. Beats doing any chores anyway. He started to aimlessly swipe through the recommended profiles, not really taking anything in, apart from noticing the odd photos which made him chuckle. Some photos were overly Photoshopped and some people were trying too hard and failing to look alluring and sexy. Dongho started to click through the various functions on the app as he realised he could filter down his searches for better matches tailored to his taste. Hmm.

Age range: 20-35.  
Height: Pfftt… 'Who cares?' thought Dongho. Though he didn’t really want someone who was way taller or way shorter than him he supposed. He chose 160-185cm. That’s a good range.  
Interests: Dongho started clicking through the various tick boxes for his interests but then realised it was a waste of time as if everyone lied on their profile as Minki claims, it wouldn’t hold true anyway. Plus he didn’t want to end up with someone who was a literal replica of himself. He hastily unchecked all the boxes and left that field blank.  
Gender: Dongho paused.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like girls. He’s had girlfriends before. Admittedly he’s never had a relationship of more than 5 months with a girl but still. And he really did appreciate girls in the way most men do.

But… he knows he’s more interested in guys. His longest relationship of a year and a half was with a male. No one really knew this, though he suspected his closest friends guessed, especially that shrewd Minki. It wasn’t that he was embarrassed. He just never said it out loud to anyone.

With a slight blush he chose M and waited for the results to load.


End file.
